Investigation

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Transcript of Investigation

InvestigationPurpose of Investigation Background Information An Australian study has shown the average age of first home buyers in Australia has increased from 20-30 years to 30-49 years old, this increase correlates with the rising costs of homes and interest rates on loans (ABC, 2013).

In reference to the Australian Curriculum, financial maths is taught in the early years in the form of currency i.e. learning about coins, notes adding and subtracting. In the senior years of high school financial maths is explored deeper, with home loan learning, taxation and business math, but only if students choose the path of Applications (ACARA, 2012)

Primary sources(Scotts, 2000)The focus of the investigation was to find out whether education in Australia was putting any priority on teaching students home loan and mortgage maths. A study in the UK showed that almost two-thirds of people aged 18-25 weren’t given any formal financial education and don’t know the appropriate financial strategies in relation to loans (Robson, S, 2012),Scott (2000) talks about being numerate as having the ability to incorporate three aspects when using mathematics. The three aspects are: confidence, content and context. The confidence of this numeracy task is the knowledge around home loan and mortgages, the content is the knowing money values and the context is knowing the mathematics around calculating which technique is best to lower the amount paid. WHAT MATH WOULD YOU FEEL IS MOST USEFUL?

“I found math boring in high school because I learnt things that didn’t seem relevant to life outside of school”

“After finishing school and doing math studies I realised that I didn’t have any clue how to do real world things like taxes etc”

“I think math studies was interesting and did benefit people who wanted to do more challenging courses after school but I never used the math I learnt again” FINDINGS- Students aren’t given enough focus on mathematics that will be used in everyday life or life after school.-For myself I realised that I should learn more about financial math, for example tax and shares.

-There should be move focus in helping students become independent after school and hopefully the curriculum changes to develop that independence amongst students.

The Australian Curriculum v8.0. 2015. Home - The Australian Curriculum, Available at: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

Written Responses"How did you feel choosing the level of maths you did in year 12?""I had always done math studies so to lower into apps I felt less intelligent and expected to learn low level math.""I didn't brag about doing maths apps or mention it really, felt embarrased.""I was confident in my ability to do Math and chose to do studies, although I did well I think I missed out on other aspects of maths"